Following a month of domestic action across the continent to kickstart the new season, it’s time for the first international break of the campaign. It’s full steam ahead to UEFA Euro 2024 next summer but until then, we have to figure out who will be there. Today, we’ll be taking a look at this week’s qualifier between Kazakhstan and Northern Ireland.
Malta Form GuideThey are one of the smallest countries in the world by area, they’ve never qualified for a major competition, and they are widely recognised as the whipping boys whenever they are in a qualifying group. That tends to be the mission statement and status quo for Malta and while that may seem sad, the last twelve months have seen them make some genuinely encouraging progress.
Malta enjoyed the comfort of a friendly to start the international break and they looked pretty solid in their clash with Gibraltar. It wasn’t anything special, but it’s hard to get too annoyed by a 1-0 win and three more points on the board.
North Macedonia Form GuideAfter years of being shunned away as minnows, North Macedonia finally stood up and made themselves heard a few years back by qualifying for Euro 2021. In the wake of such a positive moment for the nation, they proceeded to knock Italy out of the World Cup qualifiers. If that doesn’t show what they’re capable of in the run-up to next year’s tournament, we don’t know what does.
Did North Macedonia ship seven goals in a loss to England back in June? Yes. Did they respond in a great way at home to Italy? Also yes. They picked up a 1-1 draw which, in itself, is a huge example of the progress they’ve been making.
Match PredictionMalta and North Macedonia are in different positions but one common theme they share is that they aren’t particularly prolific in front of goal. It’s easy to suggest that all logic will fly out of the window in a game like this, but we don’t think that’ll be the case, which is why we’re predicting under 2.5 goals scored.
